


Drink with your Demons.

by CreamcheeseBagel



Series: Demon boy, I love you. [2]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Demon Shane Madej, Drunkenness, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Ryan Bergara Being an Idiot, Ryan Bergara doesn't know what to feel, Ryan Bergara is an angry drunk, Shane Madej Being an Idiot, Shane Madej is hurt, Swearing, so much swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:55:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23327365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreamcheeseBagel/pseuds/CreamcheeseBagel
Summary: Ryan spun on his heel and picked up the near full bottle of holy water. He thrust it into Shane’s chest.'If you’re really Shane. And not some demon wearing his skin. Drink. It.’Ryan gets drunk and makes a deal with Shane that the pair will be one hundred percent honest for an hour. Featuring bad decisions, alcohol, and drinking holy-water.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Series: Demon boy, I love you. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677571
Comments: 12
Kudos: 450





	Drink with your Demons.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a purely fictional story about the duo, and Ryan discovering that not only is his best-friend a demon but also a liar.
> 
> Rated Mature; this will continue swearing and alcohol consumption. Also poor decision making both while intoxicated, and slightly more sober. There is also a dash of emotional manipulation towards the end.
> 
> Please read the tags, and leave a comment if you liked the story. Or cry, or scream at me. Your choice.

Ryan was drunk. So inexplicably drunk by 11pm his head had begun to spin, and the floor began to move beneath his feet. Shane, on the other hand, was annoyingly only buzzed and at the stage where his eyelids began to droop.

Ryan had had a tough week, his latest segment having brought nothing substantial to prove his belief in ghosts. Logically he knew the whole point of _Unsolved_ was just that, to leave investigations open for speculation. He was fed up however, sick to the back teeth of Shane smugly shooting him down at every opportunity. Sure, the reasonable part of his brain told him this was merely the alcohol exacerbating his feelings. The more illogical part of Ryan was stupid drunk, bitter, a loose cannon desperate to prove himself.

He wanted to get angry, shed his irritable feelings and air them out. For one moment in time he wanted Shane to acknowledge his work, his ethic, his unwavering belief.

Shane for his part sat unaware, nestled on Ryan’s sofa, nursing a beverage that was more vodka than coke.

Mind made up, Ryan rummaged in his cupboards, ignoring Shane’s jests, and skittered into the open plan lounge with his hands now full of candles and salt.

‘Woah, man,’ Shane huffed, his eyes alert. ‘It’s usually rose petals and candles.’

Ryan slammed the candles on the hardwood and began to sprinkle the salt in a circle. ‘Shut up. I’m proving you wrong.’

‘You’re proving that you’re drunk, Ryan.’

Ryan tossed the salt shaker to Shane who deftly plucked the container from the air.

‘Help me make a circle,’ Ryan hiccuped, accidentally stepping through another curve he’d made. ‘Fuck!’

Shane downed the last of his concoction and place both the glass and salt shaker at his feet.

‘I’m not helping you summon a demon.’

‘You admit they’re real?’ Ryan snapped turning on Shane. ‘After all this time?’

Shane shook his head. ‘No. Don’t be stupid. Sober Ryan wouldn’t appreciate if I let you make a fucking summoning circle though.’

Ryan kicked at the salt angrily, sending flecks flying across the floor.

‘I’m so fucking tired, Shane!’ Ryan shouted, slumping on the sofa with his head in his hands. His head swam, feeling altogether too heavy and too light on his shoulders. ‘Nothing I do amounts to anything.’

‘Woah!’ Shane collapsed back beside his friend and slung an arm around Ryan. ‘Buddy, let’s cool it on the sauce. I think you’ve had a tough week and the alcohol isn’t helping.’

Ryan squirmed out of the grip and buried his face in the cushions. He felt hot with shame, seeing his outburst through the fog in his brain.

‘M’sorry,’ Ryan grumbled into the cushion.

‘Wait there. I’ll get us some refreshing _H20_. Let’s sober up and talk.’

Ryan groaned a response, not trusting himself to be coherent, and sat up. He watched Shane step around the piles of salt and fish two water bottles from the fridge. He gratefully accepted a bottle as Shane sat beside him again.

With shaky hands Ryan hungrily gulped the water down, inwardly laughing that holy water didn’t taste any different from tap water. He turned to tell Shane of his find.

‘F-uck,’ Shane stammered, throat closing around the words. He dropped his own bottle, water sloshing over where he’d sat.

‘Shane!’ Ryan squeaked, his jeans now thoroughly soaked, and feeling slightly less drunk after the impromptu shower.

Shane stumbled away clawing at his throat, eyes white and staring.

‘Look at the _light!_ ’ Ryan shouted, remembering that looking upwards and at a light source supposedly cleared the airways. He imagined that if Shane could, he would have rolled his eyes so hard at him. ‘At the ceiling. Not at the end of the tunnel. _Shane_?’

Ryan edged closer to Shane as his friend began to double over, crying and rasping. Sure Ryan had been annoyed, wrapped up in his own feelings, but he hadn’t meant for Shane to end the night crying.

Ryan slapped his hand on Shane’s back, and again for good measure. Before he could remark on the sodden hand print emblazoned on Shane’s shirt, the man recoiled forwards onto his knees. Ryan followed him down, breathing hard.

‘Shane! Should I call an ambulance?’

Ryan could feel his chest tightening in panic as he watched Shane shake his head. His eyes grew even wider as he watched Shane’s slender fingers force his own trembling lips open. Ryan sat stunned as Shane began to make himself sick. He turned away as Shane began to retch violently, he covered his ears at the first sickening splash of liquid against the hardwood.

‘Ry…’ Shane rasped. He’d unpeeled his wet shirt and tossed it away. He sat on his knees, pale and clammy, shaking as he uttered Ryan’s name.

‘I am so sorry!’ Ryan repeated to himself as he opened all the windows in his lounge. The cool night air invaded the lounge quickly, but Ryan had already sobered up at the sight of Shane trembling and wiping at his snotty nose.

Ryan dropped into a squat before Shane and held out his bottle of water. ‘Hey, man. I am so sorry. I’m not great at mixing drinks. Clearly…’

Shane batted the water bottle away with a small smile. It was such a forced smile, Ryan had to swallow his annoyance all over again.

‘Now it’s my turn to sober you up. Pretty sure I’m gonna be sober for awhile after hearing you vomit.’

Shane chuckled lightly, melting backwards to lean on his elbows. Ryan watched him breathe deeply.

‘Did you do it on purpose?’ Shane asked, his voice scratchy.

Ryan blinked. ‘Get drunk? Kinda. I was feeling annoyed, but it was stupid now I think about it.’

‘No,’ Shane said, and Ryan didn’t like the heavy look in Shane’s eyes. ‘Ryan. This whole night. Was it a bit?'

‘Excuse me?’ Ryan frowned. ‘I got drunk and stupid. You’re right. Now I’ve sobered up, I definitely don’t want a demon as a flatmate. I was just blowing off steam.’

Shane closed his eyes and opened them slowly to look at a spot behind Ryan’s head. ‘I knew you were angry with me,’ Shane explained. ‘Could feel the tension all week…’

‘Hey, big guy. I know you’re now riding the alcohol express. But I didn’t really mean to upset me.’

Shane shook his head, his face unreadable.

‘Let’s make a deal okay. For the next hour or whatever, we be one hundred honest with each other. Okay?’

Shane rolled his eyes.

‘Shane. You’ve gotta promise me. You’re right, I was angry with you. So stop being a dick, and just promise you’ll be honest. Or else, I think we should just call the night here.’

Shane cracked his neck slowly and accepted the blanket Ryan handed him. He wore the blanket as a cloak and hid his naked torso.

‘You understand, Ry. This deal means _everything_ is gonna be on the table. For an hour. You can’t take that back.’

‘Stop being dramatic and say yes already.’

‘Yes,’ Shane whispered. ‘For the next hour I shall be honest with you, Ryan.’

Ryan slumped back, leaning against the base of the sofa, feeling as though he had trapped Shane into a corner.

‘I’m sorry about tonight,’ Ryan scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘The whole week as well. I know the whole point of the show is that we don’t really _solve_ anything. But, I don’t know. It’s stupid.’ Ryan felt the lump in his throat receding. ‘For once, I wanted _you_ to believe. Or at least believe in _me_. Sometimes I feel stupid, and you make me feel stupid.’

Shane flinched backwards. He looked pinched, unsure. ‘I never wanted to make you feel stupid,’ Shane ground out, his hands clenched in his lap. ‘I-fuck,’ he took a shallow breath. ‘I do believe in you, Ryan.’

Ryan picked up one of the discarded bottles and swirled the holy water around inside. ‘Do you even believe in ghosts, or demons. You do enjoy filming with me, right?’.

Shane licked his lips slowly. ‘I love filming with you. It’s great. You get so frightened and snarky.’ With a small groan, Shane continued. ‘Fuck. This hurts to say. But, yes. I somewhat believe in ghosts and demons.’

‘Holy fuck!’ Ryan snapped and jumped to his feet. ‘You areshole! All this time, you fucking believed. Now I’m definitely angry with you. All this week you’ve been extra, something.’ He waved his arms for emphasis. ‘Aggravating. Belittling ghosts and the spirit box. What have you got to say about that?’

‘That I’m sorry.’

Ryan dropped back onto the sofa and cuddled a cushion to his chest. He squeezed until he could feel his fingertips again. He frowned hard at Shane, who looked elsewhere, and to the spilled bottle of holy water.

‘Shane?’ Ryan said, his voice an octave higher than he would have liked. Shane determinedly looked elsewhere. ‘You took this honesty thing really seriously, didn’t you?’

Shane nodded quickly before relenting and uttering a small, ‘yes.’

‘Shane,’ Ryan tried again and met his friends eyes. ‘Do you have to be honest for the next hour?’

The short nod and affirmation had Ryan feeling nauseous. ‘So, I’m definitely sober now. One hundred percent not about to try and summon a demon. But. Was it the alcohol that made you sick, Shane? Or the holy water.’

Shane looked to Ryan with a lopsided smirk, before he frowned and looked pensive. ‘You’re really bad at making drinks. So I was definitely tipsy.’ He sighed as though weary with the world. ‘The holy water- mademesick.’ He stumbled on the words, panting hard. Shane swiped at his brow and begged Ryan with his eyes to stop.

Ryan settled backwards. It was as though a switch had been flicked and his emotions had vanished before panic could form. ‘Will you hurt me?’ he asked, feeling nothing as he stared at his friend.

Shane got to his knees and then his feet. He towered over Ryan before squatting before him. ‘Ryan. You have to believe me that I would never intentionally harm you.’

‘But you lied about ghosts and demons? Was the Goatman even real?’

‘Yes!’ Shane snapped, pushing his glasses further up his nose. ‘And because I wanted to keep filming Unsolved with you. If we cracked it, _poof_ , no more series.’

Shane moved awkwardly on his feet. ‘The Goatman is real, right? But he wasn’t there and hasn’t been in centuries. It’s like Skype. If someone trots up to his bridge, he gets a notification but he doesn’t really care enough to come back and scare them off his lawn.’

‘You really stole a demons bridge for shits and giggles?’

‘Kinda. I mean it’s not exactly a timeshare. If he wanted it he would have come back and made me leave. But he left it, so it was fair game!’

‘Fair game? You’re sick. You told him to attack us!’

‘The guy wasn’t even in the state. It’s cool-‘

‘I cannot believe you, Shane. You lied to me. And now I know that all the times you were spouting shit, challenging ghosts to hurt you. It was all real. But you knew they wouldn’t show themselves. Because it was _you_ they were afraid of.’

‘Don’t give me too much credit, Ry. That spirit box is a fucking headache to be around.’ Ryan ignored Shane’s attempt to lighten the mood. He watched him squirm, move from foot to foot as if debating to stand or not. Yet the anger he had held onto and expected to erupt had fizzled. He felt bizarrely empty as he sat facing his friend, his best friend and ghoul hunter.

‘You once argued that not all demons were bad. Or dicks. Or whatever crap you said. I guess I don’t have to ask you to figure that one out.’

Shane opened his mouth once, twice, and closed it.

‘I am Shane. This isn’t possession. Not really…’

‘It’s my turn to be honest now, _Shane_. I want you to leave.’

‘Don’t send me away. Like some dog. I’m your friend, Ryan. Your best friend. We’re pals.’

‘You’re a demon,’ Ryan stated, shoving Shane away. He stood over his former friend as he lay sprawled. ‘A lying shit-faced demon. Drunk me should have finished that circle and stuck you in it.’

‘Ryan!’ Shane gasped as he rolled to stand. He hunched in on himself as he loomed, looking ridiculous in the blanket still. ‘I’m not a vampire. You can’t un-invite me. And before you ask, no I’ve never met one. Don’t even know if they’re real.’

‘You promised you would never intentionally hurt me.’

‘Of course!’ Shane said, crossing his arms.

‘Then prove it. Get the fuck out of here, if you actually mean it.’

Shane rocked on his heels. ‘I’m not leaving until we’ve sorted this out.’

‘Sorted this out! You’re mad. I’m telling you to leave, to prove that you won’t harm me.’

‘And I’m telling your stupid short arse, that I’m not leaving. I am not a threat to you.’

Ryan spun on his heel and picked up the near full bottle of holy water. He thrust it into Shane’s chest.

‘If you’re really Shane. And not some demon wearing his skin. Drink. It.’

Shane eyed the bottle with watery eyes. ‘The truth contract doesn’t work that way. You can’t make me do things, only speak honestly.’

Ryan shrugged, starting to feel confident in himself. ‘I know that. But I’ve also known Shane Madej for years. That guy knows me inside and out. He may be some lanky smart mouth, but if I know him at all. He would do anything to keep me as a friend.’

‘If you were my friend. You wouldn’t force me to do this.’

‘Maybe we’re not then.’

Shane screwed up his eyes, his nostrils flared. ‘Fuck, Ryan. I am your friend!’ he spat, and snatched the water bottle. ‘If I do this. What does it prove? That I am Shane, and just happen to be a demon. That I would hurt myself to prove my worth as a friend?’

‘Yes,’ Ryan breathed, feeling a tug in his chest. He watched Shane unscrew the lid, could see the water slosh as Shane raised the bottle to his face. ‘Wait!’.

Shane froze like a deer in the headlights.

‘I believe you. Don’t. Don’t hurt yourself to prove it. You’re right. I believe you.’

Shane lowered the bottle slowly, handing it to Ryan and trusting that he wouldn’t utilise it as a weapon after all.

‘Shit, Shane. I can’t believe I almost made you do that…’

‘Alcohol, deals with demons, _and_ short man syndrome don’t mix.’

Ryan discarded the bottle in the sink, watching the holy water drain away. With a heavy heart he met Shane again in the lounge, as the man had not moved from his position, and pulled him into a tight hug.

‘I’m scared, Shane.’

‘I know,’ Shane whispered, resting his chin on Ryan’s head. ‘Good thing your clothes have dried though or else I’d be smoking right about now.’

Ryan allowed himself to laugh into Shane’s chest. ‘I’m still angry with you, with the lies. But I'm sorry. Sorry for tonight. Everything.’

‘I know,’ Shane said, squeezing Ryan. ‘But if you let me stay. We’ll talk. Even after the deal has worn off. I don’t want to lose my best friend over something I can’t control.’

‘I believe you.’

‘Thanks, Ry.’


End file.
